Drop in admission to Tamil Nadu private schools under RTE

CHENNAI: For the first time in recent years, there has been a drop in number of students admitted to private schools under the Right of Children for Free & Compulsory Education (RTE) Act. Despite receiving record number of applications from candidates across Tamil Nadu, only 70,000 managed to get admissions in private schools under the 25% RTE quota, according to official data.

“This is because the admission guidelines were revised this year. Only those residing within 1km radius of the schools were considered for the admission process,” a state school education department official told TOI on condition of anonymity. Until last year, applications from those within 3km or 5km radius were considered during the second or subsequent rounds of admissions. Explaining the rationale behind this decision, the official said the Centre had not only denied reimbursement claims made for admissions made under the said act in kindergarten sections but also delayed releasing the promised funds. “Every year, the state had to spend over and above its allocated budget to bridge this funding gap,” he said. Corroborating this, minutes of the recent Samagara Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) project approval board meeting suggest that the state had sought Rs 99 crore as total reimbursement towards expenditure incurred for 25 % admission under RTE quota in 2015-16. But the central government (HRD ministry) has sanctioned only Rs 27.6 crore approximately one-fourth of the proposal, show records. Commenting on this, V Eswaran from MDMK party, also an RTE activist, said, “Other states including Maharashtra increase the radius to 3km or 5km if the seats remain vacant. So when there is a provision to do so, the government can’t cite shortage of funds as a reason to revise guidelines.” “Instead, the government can fix the loopholes in admitting students from disadvantaged groups (SC/ST/BC/MBC) to make the scheme more efficient. These students become eligible only by submitting a community certificate. So, even the affluent managed to study for free,” he told.

According to section 12 (1)(c) of the act, 25 % seats in private schools are reserved for students aged between 8 to 14, belonging to weaker sections (with an annual income of less than Rs 2 lakh) and disadvantaged groups. Eswaran added if the RTE Act doesn’t accept KG admissions, then the state should instruct private schools to readmit them in Class I and submit these applications for reimbursement.